MrFood wrote:However, no-one has said anything for the neck-heaviness...

Standing up and playing is a chore, my left arm gets tired so quickly and it's purely because of the extra energy I'm having to excert to stop the frickin headstock from bashing the ground.

I have a '74 SG Standard with the Bigsby tremolo. It is a beautiful instrument. It is my friend. Shortly after buying it, though, I bought three things that addressed what I perceived as the biggest flaws in the design (two of which relate directly to your concern). It's about a $75-$90 investment that I strongly recommend to anyone with an SG.

Here's what I did:

1. I bought an extra-wide strap made of non-smooth material (no nylon! no polished leather!). Mine is suede, and it works great. The extra width and choice of material gives the strap a much better grip. I have to physically pick the guitar up off of my shoulder if I want to move the neck up or down. The infamous SG "slide" and overall top-heaviness was never a problem again. A strap like this will end up costing you a little more than the typical nylon, skinny-tie-looking shits they sell at music stores (~$30), but it's well worth it. Of the three, this was the biggest improvement.

2. I bought some Schaller strap locks ($20-$25). There had been far too many times in the past where I had to perform some crazy gymnastic maneuver to catch a guitar after it slipped off the strap. Of course if an SG falls, the first thing to hit the ground would be the headstock. The next 7,000 things to hit the ground would be my tears. After making these two improvements, I never again had to worry about the guitar leaving my hands. It won't shift, and I don't have to strain to keep the neck from leaning downward.

3. I bought a right-angle instrument cable ($25-$30). Having a regular straight cable stick directly out from the input (retardedly positioned on the front face of the guitar body) not only seemed like it would be in the way while playing, but I could easily imagine the cable getting snagged on something, snapping the input and part of the guitar body along with it. The right-angle puts the cable input into a much more flush position relative to the body, and you're much less likely to have input problems down the road.

I have a '74 SG Special with the same mini-humbuckers they put in the Firebird. Great, great sounding guitar. The output is really hot, and will second what Redline said about them cleaning up nicely with the volume down.

The neck-heaviness is something I've noticed, but it's really a non-issue. I don't play my guitar without holding the neck with my left hand, ever that I'm aware of, so it's not like it falls down or anything. And the whole guitar weighs what, like two pounds, so it's not like it's a chore to support the weight.

Neck's a little thick compared to my ideal. But for what it is, it's an awesome guitar.

I do not like how this guitar feels, and how it is weighted, I love the sound but I could never play on live, I have used them in the studio though, most of NNM was recorded on one...

scott wrote:The neck-heaviness is something I've noticed, but it's really a non-issue. I don't play my guitar without holding the neck with my left hand, ever that I'm aware of, so it's not like it falls down or anything. And the whole guitar weighs what, like two pounds, so it's not like it's a chore to support the weight.

It's because you have a dainty touch. For the ham-fisted player, the greater concern is more about having the goddamn thing slide all over the place because of awkward weight distribution.

I have an SG-90 model, that has a Fender-scale neck with an ebony fretboard. It's even more neck heavy than the standard models but I don't consider that a problem at all.

Not crap, though some of the early Norlin era SG's were complete crap. --I particularly hated the Maple ones, as well as the 72 or 73 era SG's with the nearly unangled neck.

My 'fake', with ex-Iommi neck pickup. Best £100 I ever spent. This thing and me are married. And it's a bolt on neck so the neck joint goes before the headstock...

I have a Classic.
I love it.

Gibson people generally drive me nuts with their snobbiness. Also, I usually don't go for Gibson necks.
Not much of an Angus fan, but I do like Pete.
I don't even like the way SGs look.

However, the SG has that great strap peg set up. With the strap at the heel, and the guitar's lightweight, you can roll the guitar around. It's expressive and it's made me a better player.

The top heaviness doesn't bother me. I used to play Rick 12s.
Also, I have a hand on the neck anyway, right?
And when I don't, the neck dips down and just sort of hangs there. I think that looks cool as hell.

This guitar is 100% "rock."

And lightweight enough that I can do this with it:




-A

alex maiolo wrote:Not much of an Angus fan, but I do like Pete.

I sincerely hope you get the help you need soon.

alex maiolo wrote:Pete

With the SG, I can think of no finer example of man melding with guitar.

I have a fantasy where I buy an SG and learn to play 'Tommy' in it's entirety on it.

I like this fantasy.